Chest tubes are flexible plastic tubes that are used to drain fluids or gases that have accumulated in the pleural space. Chest tube placement, known as tube thoracotomy, involves the following steps: administering a local anesthetic to the patient's chest, creating an incision between the patient's ribs, feeding a chest tube into the patient's pleural space, securing the chest tube, and allowing the fluid and/or gas to drain, with or without the assistance of suction. At present, the act of securing the chest tube is often accomplished by suturing the tube directly to the patient. This technique has several disadvantages. First, sutured chest tubes, especially smaller sized tubes, often become dislodged from patients. When a sutured tube dislodges, the patient can experience bleeding, pain, and even pneumothorax. Second, suturing takes a substantial amount of time. Suturing is disadvantageous in emergency situations, when time is of the essence. Third, suturing may limit the patient's movement because the chest tube is prone to dislodgment.
Accordingly, there exists the need for a device that can secure a chest tube to a patient without requiring health professionals to suture the tube in place.